Ontario researchers discover potential asthma treatment

ASTHMA

Gary Yokoyama,The Hamilton Spectator

St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton and McMaster researchers have successfully tested an antibody that can improve quality of life for people with asthma by relieving inflammation in the lungs. The new discovery was announced by Dr. Paul O’Byrne.

Hamilton researchers have discovered a new potential antibody treatment that could prove to be a benefit to those who suffer from asthma.

The research was conducted by Dr. Gail Gauvreau, associate professor at McMaster University and Dr. Paul O'Byrne, executive director of the Firestone Institute of Respiratory Health at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton.

"It proves that the (TSLP) protein is really important in initiating these inflammatory events in the airways and that was something that wasn't known before in humans with asthma," said O'Byrne, who is also the chair of the Department of Medicine at McMaster University.

The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented to the American Thoracic Society Conference in San Diego over the weekend.

The research looked at a different protein — an antibody, which O'Byrne said blocks the TSLP and stops it from interacting in the airway. As suspected, it prevented the cascade of events that lead to inflammation in the lungs when asthmatics inhale an allergen.

What researchers didn't expect was that the baseline inflammation that was already present in the patients before they got the allergen was also completely resolved by the treatment.

During the course of the study, researchers have been studying patients with allergic asthma, which is very common in Canada. O'Byrne says probably 15 per cent of children have the disease. Doctors have been trying to understand it and develop new treatments for it.

The study, conducted by the Clinical Investigator Collaborative, recruited 31 subjects at five sites across Canada. After 12 weeks, the antibodies significantly reduced baseline inflammation and protected the participants against inhaled allergens when compared to a placebo.

According to O'Byrne, the antibody will go into much larger studies of patients with more severe asthma to see whether it will benefit and improve these patients as well.